At first, Wild
Pitch by Mike Lupica was a book that I had little interest in reading.Then, it became a book that I read when I had the time.Eventually, it became a book that I made the time to read.

A review copy of Wild
Pitch was presented to me six months ago.Personally, from witnessing his conduct on ESPN’s “The Sports
Reporters,” I have always thought Mike Lupica to be someone who always seemed
to believe that the person who yelled the loudest was the person who was always
right.Not being a huge fan of the
schoolyard intimidation tactics used by Mike on ESPN’s show, I felt this was
an author with whom I might not connect.Because
of this personal opinion, when Wild Pitch came into NetShrine.com review queue, it sometimes
stalled or was bypassed as other works rose to the top of the pile.There was little sense of urgency on my part, albeit driven by my own
arbitrary and subjective roots, to see what Mr. Lupica had written.

Then, a medical situation intervened.I had an appointment with a doctor about eight weeks ago.This was one of those doctors famous for triple booking and taking longer
with patients than his schedule allowed for handling.Past history had proven that regardless of your appointment time and
individual punctual compliance, you were going to get stuck in his waiting room
for an hour or more.

Faced with the forlorn notion of thumbing through tattered
copies of Sports Illustrated from
1997, The Ladies Home Journal, or Highlights
“magazine” for an ostensible eternity in the appropriately named waiting
room, I thought “Why not? Let me grab that Lupica book.It’s probably not interesting and there would be then little lost when
I never bother finishing it.”And,
off to the doctor went I with a copy of Wild
Pitch.

Settling in at the doctor, I started reading.To be quite candid and frank, at the onset, I found Wild
Pitch to be somewhat jejune and ribald in both voice and style.As a 13 year- old boy reading Joe Pepitone’s Joe, You Coulda Make Us Proud, this type of approach was literary
pollen to an adolescent reader bee.However,
to a now 40 year-old baseball wannbe intellectual enthusiast, this tactic was
less than effective in terms of inciting interest.Further, in the early passages of Wild
Pitch, there was evidence that perhaps one of the main themes of the book
would be that of a love triangle.Again,
as a baseball fan, this was not something that would lend towards keeping the
peepers peeled and pointed on the pages.

In any event, for that moment, Wild Pitch served its impermanent purpose.It exterminated the downtime I had to spend in the waiting room.

As far as me, it was a successful doctor visit.There were no follow up appointment required.I went home and continued with my normal course of life.

And, Wild Pitch
was tossed back into the review queue.

However, deep down inside, I felt poorly about not
attending to the review of Wild Pitch since
I had agreed to evaluate it for NetShrine.com.Having started it, the more time that now passed - as the book now
embarked on its second tour of duty in the queue - my self-reproach grew.Finally, a few weeks later, my guilt reached a crescendo and I decided I
was going to continuing reading Wild Pitch,
strictly as time and mood allowed.There
was no agenda or rush.I would
finish it whenever it happened – even if it took a year.

Sporadically, I continued reading Wild Pitch.It was
during this time that my appreciation for the book began.

At a very high level, Wild Pitch now commenced
unfolding as a comeback story slightly akin to Jim Morris’ The Rookie.Just
slightly, for in this case, the pitcher was not a minor leaguer making a
comeback reaching the majors.Rather,
it was a star making a comeback after being thought fork worthy by all.(Fork worthy as in “Stick a fork in him, he’s done.”)And, whereas Jim Morris was a “nice guy” story, in the case of Wild
Pitch, the principle character is more of a lounge lizard skirt chaser type
of guy.Still, it is a comeback
story and those are always nice.

Moving forward, Wild Pitch turns out to be just not
a comeback story.As is the case
with most baseball themed books these days, Wild Pitch had built in plots
about a down to the wire race for first place and using baseball as a bridge to
address father-son relationships.While
(to some extent) these lines are a “been there, done that” modern day
baseball story staple, they were nonetheless credible and apposite to the
overall story of Wild Pitch.

Further, as I read more and entered deeper into the story,
the voice of the characters became secondary in my attention as a result of the
total saga emerging in Wild Pitch.This completely eliminated my initial displeasure centered on the tone
chosen for the book.

Additionally, Mike Lupica decided to take this fictional
story and interlace both facts and real people/places (where allowable).As a reviewer, I had a tremendous respect for the accuracy given towards
the insertions of reality.For
example, when describing a game at Yogi Berra Stadium, in Montclair, New Jersey,
Wild Pitch reads:

“Yogi had even shown up to throw the first pitch, then
sat with his wife, Carmen, both of them up there watching him from the back
porch of the museum that served as Yogi’s private luxury box when he felt like
taking in a game.”

Having personally been to a game at Berra Stadium, when
Yogi was there, and seeing him sit on that porch during a game, I have great
appreciation for the attention to detail which Lupica used.Even the small applications were dead on.At one point in the book, a reference is made to “the big CNBC complex
just off Route 46.”Again, as
someone who once drove past that complex everyday on his way to work, these
factual references were intriguing.(It
is significant to note that not every “fact” was correct.Towards the end of the book, a very quick reference – a mere blip on
the radar and an inconsequential mention – of former “Texas Rangers”
Aurelio Rodriguez was made in Wild Pitch.And, he never played for Texas.Still,
as per my findings, any possible missed “real life” facts were the rare
exception.)

Other places in Wild
Pitch, Lupica used real stories in fictional places with fictional
characters. Towards the end of the book, there is a retrospective story told
about a mound offering once made by (the present fictional) pitching coach for
the Boston Red Sox that is almost word-for-word a reported infamous uttering by
Art Fowler when he was Billy Martin’s pitching coach in New York.Spotting and recognizing these usages in Wild
Pitch was entertaining.

Perhaps the biggest hook of them all was a plot twist
occurring about a third of the way into Wild
Pitch.Not wanting to take
anything away from those who decide to read Wild Pitch, all I will share
is that it was a moment, for me, reminiscent to the scene in The Sixth Sense where Dr. Malcolm Crowe’swife drops the wedding ring.
Literally, when I read this twist in Wild
Pitch, in a reflex reaction, I said to myself out loud (even though I was
alone in the room) “Oh, <bleep>!”

It was at that point while reading Wild Pitch that it became a book that I would make the time to read
as opposed to reading it when I had the time.

Lastly, in the review of Wild Pitch, I would be
remiss if I did not address the characters of the story.Granted, some were unappealing perpetuations of various baseball
stereotypes – of both players and peripheral baseball folk (managers, owners,
coaches, wives, ex-wives, girlfriends, etc.).However, others were quite charismatic. In particular, at least to me,
most compelling two were the therapist who enables the main character’s
comeback and the Red Sox catcher.

In summary, while it took this reviewer a while to reach
this conclusion, in the end, I found Wild Pitch to be enjoyable,
stimulating and gripping.A one
point, I was actually tempted to “cheat” and read the ending before I
naturally reached it.To most, that
is the sign of a good book.(For the
record, willpower won out and I did not cheat.)

NetShrine.com does recommend Wild
Pitch to anyone who enjoys baseball fiction.But, please keep in mind, if Wild Pitch were a movie, it would be
rated PG-13.This is not a book for
children under the age of 13 without parental supervision.